The Washington critic., 1887-02-01
IVY CITY IN WINTER.
How the Racers Arc Prepared foI
Their Seasons work.

Their Seasons Work.
GLOW doyou keep your horses busy
during the winter, jimmy
The speaker was a Cmr1c reporter.
The other was the foreman Of Mr..
Burch' stable at Ivy City.
"Wcll, we don't do much, of course;
that Is, not as much as we do In the
summer. sull a good race horse re.
quires as much attention as a baby, and
they get 1t in this stable. We have a
man and boy for almost every horse.
They turn out In the morning about
G3O, clean their horses and then we
give light feed After breakfast the
horses are saddled and trotted around
ring under cover that cncircles the
stables. They are kept at this bust.
ness for about an hour and ahalf.
Then they are put in their boxes and
thoroughly cleaned and fed This
programme is carried out again In the
afternoon, and so on day after day, be.
ing careful always to take such care of
our horses that they never catch cold
That Is the great banC of trainers
life. Your horse may be perfectly
well and able TO run q good race to.
day tonight take cold and tomorrow
not be worth cent.
1--WE keep our horses Mt this slow In.
door work until about the middle of
February when we 90 out on the
roads for a couple of hours walking
and trotting, until the first of March
At That time slow gnllops begin, and
gradually increase In speed until prob
ably the first Of April, when every one
begins TO hold u watch to catch the
first horse that reaches the two minute
notch. From that time on II Is an
anxious time with trainers, and never
move is made without a watch being
held on the horse. From two minutes
they begin TO move faster, until some
fellow sends one OF his horses in time
we consider fast enough To win race,
probably al, with his shoes on. We
would be only too glad to keep this
quiet in order 10 get the long odds
when raCeday comes, but the chances
are ten TO one 'tout sees the move,
and, II he does, the buokmal,cr won
take any liberty with the horse. His
odds will be very short. This work Is
kept up all summer, of course, with
the greatest possible cme to keep your
horse on edge. Too many moves
may put the horse over the line, and If
you don't give him enough of course
he is not screwed up to the point"
That's n great mare you have,
Jimmy" the reporter remarked. as
Telie Doe stuck her pretty dlshcd face
out the half.open door of her box.
Great, is II? Well, you bet your
life that's a great mare. I'll tell you
something about that mare, but first
let me get her out so you can see her
Now, do you know, this mare ran
seven furlongs In 1:2Gl? 1t was at
Sheepshead Bay. To be sure, she had
only feather weight up. Little Elke
rode her mile in 1:41 and she went
the first seven furlongs in l;25l. Just as
easy as rolling of log. Eilke says
she was playing all the way, and | be.
lieve him, because she ran here last
fall in 1:21l, with 1861 pounds up.
What horses are In this stable?"
"Telic Doe, Biggonet, John c.,
Pasha, Colonel sprague and several
others. The Colonel, however, won t
be trained this season. Mr. Burch
will turn him out for years rest.
Mr.. Mcmahon has the great mare,
Swift, who ran mile at Saratoga last
year in Al, and it was claimed could
have beaten the record; frankie b.
Al Reed and lot of two.year.olds
among them full brother to Frank
Ward. Mr.. w. b. Jennings has Boaz,
Ten Strike and that good little horse
Frank Ward, besides several two.year.
olds. Davis Il Hall have Bess and
eight or nine others. M. Il. Danahel
has Mystic and one other, both jump
ers. In addition to the horses now
here the stables of eN.Mayor Nolan
with Bourke Cochran aud fourteen
others, and Mr.. ii. c. Ditmas, with 4
long string, including Portland, tho
crack two.year'old OF So, are expected
very soon.
A committee from the Fair Associa
tiop has had workmen busy repairing
the roofs of the stables, so that nov
there is no complaint of their leaking
The intention of the association Is Il
keep the stables in as good condition
as possible. The lack of funds alone
has prevented long contemplated i'm
provemGn,s. But II Is the intention OF
the association to make Ivy City
one of the leading wintering place.
in the country for race horses
and 1t is probable that either {
number of new stables with all modern
accommodation will be built this yea
or the brick buildings which are nov
standing idle will be converted int
handsome quarters for horses. In eithe,
event, great improvement will viii
been made, The stables are great re
sort of borsemen, and as the warn
weather approaches Sandy" at tn,
clubhouse, which is kept open the yea
| round will find plenty to do TO rcfresl